Tip Taps Tip
by metalspike
Summary: It has been five years since the Second Summer of Love.Maurice,Maeter and Linck live alone as Eureka and Renton never came back.But Why does that kid look so much like Renton? Who is that mysterious little girl?
1. Chapter 1

**Tip Taps Tip**

**Chapter: 1**

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_I never understood why it always starts to rain when I think about them…about mama and papa. It has been 5 years since they disappeared along with half of the Scub Coral. First, we believed that they would come back. A year later, to renew our hopes, we were officially included in the family as the children of Renton and Eureka Thurston. So Maeter became Maeter Thurston, Linck became Linck Thurston and I…I became Maurice Thurston. But they never came…mama and papa never returned. For Grandpa Axel, I had taken place of papa and he taught me all about the LFOs and other machines. We were still somewhat happy as we were still a family, the importance of which we had learnt when we were in the Promised Land. But it all changed once again 6 months ago…when Grandpa Axel left us. And that was the last time we heard or saw anybody from the Gekkostate. Even after the second summer of love, people were still skeptical about the Coral and so Gekkostate still had a job to do. They often used to visit us for repairs and spare parts but they stopped after Grandpa's death. I suppose they think that there is no gain in coming here. After grandpa left, we were once again orphaned. The neighbors looked after us for a month or so, mostly out of pity and the Thurston name. But it couldn't always go on like that. So I decided to reopen grandpa's garage and started working as a mechanic, the thing he had trained me for. Of course, the job was too difficult for an 11-year old like me. The amount of muscular power the job demanded was way beyond what I possessed. But thanks to a kind blacksmith, who lived at the other end of Bellforest, the tools were tinkered so that they require less amount of strength. I started the garage but the money from it wasn't quite enough so Maeter took up a job in a shop, it's quite tough for a 10-year old girl to find a job. Linck lent me a hand in the comparatively less strenuous tasks. So here we were, kids working for their survival. You ask about our education? Well, we do go to school. They were kind enough to let us study without any fees and we somehow managed to get the books. Though we weren't exactly shining in our studies but seeing the circumstances we were doing pretty good. Atleast we weren't repeating any year. This is our life._

Pulling up the collar of his jacket to shield his face from the light rain, Maurice brisk walked on the damp pavement. He walked past a playground where a few small boys were playing soccer, despite the drizzle.

"C'mon, pass the ball." A boy shouted.

"What are you doing? Give the ball to him." Another one shouted.

"Renton…" the boy from before yelled once again.

_This is another result of the second summer of love. We now have hordes of kids being named 'Renton', though 'Eureka' is still uncommon and you may sometimes even spot 'Adroc'. They say that it is in their remembrance but I, on the contrary, feel that it's kind of disrespectful. I feel that it somehow reduces the value of the original person._

"Renton, can't you pass a ball?"

"I-I tried, but passing requires a lot of skill." The boy, Renton, defended himself.

_Hmm…this one is quite somewhat like papa._

Maurice hastened his pace; their house was just around the corner. Within a couple of minutes, he reached the door and entered the garage.

"I'm back!" he announced.

"Hey…" came a muffled voice.

"Linck, you still not done with seveN!"

From under a silver-electric blue LFO, a dark skinned boy with a scar on the left side of his forehead, rolled out.

"What the heck do you mean? This stupid LFO requires tons of maintenance and for all we do it has hardly ever budged. Makes me want to throw this junk away." Linck exclaimed

Maurice sighed,

"I know but Grandpa had specifically asked us to keep it safe."

"For what, eh? Didn't we try everything to get this scrap to move? Tresor made a new Amita Drive, Anemone tried in case it needed a Coralian pilot. But noooo, this hunk didn't move an inch. For the past four years it's been lying like this. Wonder why Tresor wasted money on its armor and weapons."

Maurice sighed once again,

"Has Maeter returned yet?" he asked.

"No, I think she's doing OT again." Linck replied.

"Great…and looks like we're in for a storm tonight."

Maurice checked through the order slips and supervised the machines in for repair. He saw that most of the jobs were ahead of schedule so he decided to call it a day.

"Let's go Linck. Better get started on dinner, since Maeter's gonna be late."

"Un Hunh can't do. There's nothing to cook, Maeter's getting the groceries while she's coming back." Linck said.

Maurice ruffled his hair,

"Oh well, then let's just get back inside."

The two boys switched off the lights, locked the garage door and went inside the house. The rain outside was now pouring full force with lightning and thunder.

"Boy, is that one…" and suddenly darkness enveloped them.

"Power failure," Linck muttered," I'll start the backup generator."

Pulling out his pocket flashlight, which he used to see under the hoods of machines, Linck made his way through to the back of the house where their own home-made generator was placed.

Maurice patiently waited as Linck went about the startup procedure.

Suddenly, a loud thumping noise came from the main door. Carefully making his way through, Maurice reached the door and opened it. There stood a small boy, about four or five years old, drenched wet and shivering.

"C-Can I p-please c-come i-in, I am v-very c-c-cold." The boy innocently spoke, his teeth chattering.

_Maybe he's one of those kids who were playing in the playground._

"Come on in." Maurice spoke, gently pulling him in by his hand.

"My name is R-Renton, I'm five y-years old. Nice t-to meet y-you." The boy spoke as he shivered.

_Yup, he's definitely that boy from the playground._

At that moment, the lights lit up and the soft humming of the generator was heard in the background.

Maurice observed his guest and gasped.

The boy had saddle-brown hair which was stuck to his forehead due to the wetness, his eyes were light blue. His nose was curved inwards and was pointy at the tip.

"Papa…" Maurice whispered.

Silence surrounded them as the two kept staring at each other. The rain outside fell noisily….Tip…Tap…Tip…

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**So, how was it? Sorry for the sort of slow start but a couple of chapters and the story will pick up. I wanted to write a fic in which Eureka and Renton do not come back as most of the ones I read show them coming back after a year or so. Oh and the title was inspired by one of the ending songs in the anime (Tip Taps Tip by HALCALI)**

**Please read and review, do tell me if you like this or not.**

**mse~ **


	2. Chapter 2

**My thanks to everyone who found this interesting. I'm sorry if my speed is slow but I'll try my best. Hope you like it. R&R :)

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**

**Tip Taps Tip**

**Chapter: 2

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**

_Curses! I should have brought my rain coat. This stupid umbrella is of no use in this rain…or rather storm, not to mention how I'd return this umbrella back to Kris in one piece.  
_These were the thoughts of a certain green-eyed, blond 10yr old girl coming out of a shop named 'Kris' Boutique'…Maeter Thurston.

Facing the onslaught of the torrential rain, the umbrella was more of burden then help to her. And finally it snapped, the jerk causing her grip to loosen and it blew away into the distant grey skies. Now she stood alone, drenched wet and frowning.

"You useless thing…" she hollered at the disappearing umbrella. In front of her lay a long hazy path.

_How am I going to get back home?_

She sighed and then placing a hand over her forehead to shield her eyes, she started running. The sound of her footsteps, splashing the water on the pavement, ricocheted off the sides of the empty streets. Not a soul was visible…certainly, an eerie atmosphere.

The rumbling thunder and flashes of lightning wasn't helping and before long she was aimlessly running, looking for a place of shelter. Her destination was no longer her home but any place which could protect her from this downpour. And that's when she heard a faint voice. It was almost masked by the hissing and pattering noises all around but she could still make out the new sound.

"Hey…" came a faint, crackling voice. Maeter stopped, her hands now cupping her ears to enhance her hearing.

"Hello…is anybody there." She shouted back, her eyes blinking as water entered them.

"Hey…" came the voice once again," over here."

Straining her eyes, she tried looking at the spot from where the voice seemed to come. There she saw a small, pale hand waving to her. Cautiously, she made her way across the street and saw that the hand belonged to a hooded figure with a cloak. Judging by the height, it was most probably a kid.

"Follow me" the figure spoke, its voice shrill and deliberately suppressed. The hooded kid started running.

"Hey…hold on…" Maeter shouted and followed it. The kid led her down many twisting and turning alleyways while she struggled to keep her sight on it. Finally, it stopped at the dead end of an alley. Maeter, now panting, stood next to it.

"Where…are…you…taking…me…"

The hooded figure moved a crate from the corner, revealing a perfect hole beneath.

"In here…" the figure spoke in its fake voice.

Maeter stepped forward and peeped down the hole. It was pitch black and seemingly endless.

"Are you nuts? Jump in there?"

"You'll be safe…"

"Who are you?" she questioned.

The figure became still, as if searching for an answer. Meanwhile, Maeter looked around her surroundings and saw nothing but dark walls, not even a window marred its flatness.

Suddenly, she felt somebody grasp her hand and jerk forward and before she knew she was tumbling down the hole. Her vocal cords let loose and she shrieked as she slithered down into nothingness. Just when she thought that her descent was never going to end she saw a bright light, piercingly white and then everything started spinning into darkness.

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_It was hard to keep ourselves from staring at this boy who looked just like papa. He was astonished on hearing me call him 'papa' but I told him the truth that he did look like papa to which he told that other people said that he looked like some hero, Renton and that's how his name came to be so. I did not reveal that that Renton was in fact our papa. He was obviously unaware about the reason why papa or rather Renton was called a hero. He never knew because he had nobody to ask to, because for as long as he remembers he has always been alone. No family of his own and he lived in an orphanage which barely cared for him. It was saddening to see how this poor kid was yearning for love and when I hugged him I didn't know whether the wetness on my shoulder was from his wet hair or from his eyes. He lived a lonely life. The other kids at the orphanage ridiculed him and teased him. He had no one to call as a friend…and the one he seemingly had was missing. So when Linck and I offered to be his friends, the sparkle of joy in his eyes was something which gave even the observer great happiness. So for the first time we had a friend who didn't care about who we were._

The kid, Renton, now sat on a chair in dry clothes. His eyes fixed on the floor as he fidgeted slightly.

"Is something wrong, Renton? You want something?" Maurice asked

Bashfully, he lifted his head and said,

"C-Could I have something to eat?"

At the mention of food, Maurice's mind immediately reeled on to Maeter. He immediately sprang up, leaving a surprised Renton, and looked outside the window for the sight of her petite figure. When he couldn't spot it, he called up the boutique where he was informed that she had already left.

A sense of panic flooded him as he looked out and saw that the rain had no intentions of slowing down.

"Linck, I'm going out to look for Maeter. Take care of Renton." He shouted as he hurried out to the garage.

Pulling out Renton's (Senior) old bike, which Axel had recovered and repaired, he strapped on his helmet and was about to open the garage door when.

***Tap* *Tap* Tap***

Someone knocked on the door.

_Who could it be…?

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_

The first thing which greeted Maeter, apart from the darkness in front of her eyes, as she came to her senses was warmth. She felt warm all over her body. The sound of water splashing, not as in rain, but next to a lake or so reached her. This invoked a thought in her,

_How could it be warm? Wasn't it raining?_

She opened her eyes and saw an expanse of golden brightness stretching out in front of her. Moving her hand slightly, she felt the ground beneath her.

_Sand…? I don't remember seeing sand anywhere in Bellforest._

And that's when it struck her that maybe she wasn't in Bellforest anymore. Immediately, she pushed herself into a sitting position and her eyes were welcomed by the sight of never ending water lapping in front of her. She looked behind and saw a curtain of greenery all around. Groggily, she stood up. She remembered jumping into that hole with that hooded figure.

"Ah…you're finally awake." A sweet and strangely familiar voice came from behind. Maeter turned and saw a girl standing at the edge of the water line. Her eyes went wide at the sight of this little kid.

She looked barely 5yrs old; her skin was pale and had short turquoise hairs which were tied into a lopsided ponytail at the side of her head. But the most striking feature were her eyes, it was lavender, just like…

"Mama…" Maeter whispered in disbelief.

The two girls stood there looking at each other, the older one astonished and the younger one surprised.

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**Chapter 2 done! Now we know about the two kids so from the next chapter on the actual story will start to shape up. Do tell me your thoughts about this and please, please do review. The favorites and story alerts are fine but reviews assure me that there are some who read and like this. Anyways, thanks for reading!**

**msé~ **


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